Monday, September 19, 2011

another one about baptismal dates

This week has been great! Our two baptismal candidates will get baptized on Saturday, and I'm really excited about it. It'll be "my" second and third baptisms in the mission, and I hope there's at least a couple more in store before I leave.

Last night we tracted into a lady who was evangelical. She said she'd heard about us before, and she just had a few questions that involved additional scripture. My companion tried to explain how her argument was invalid, but she just dodged the answer. Then I said, "Hey, we don't like to debate, we just invite people to find out for themselves. If we give you this book, will you read it?" and she said yes, so that was a net positive experience. I hope she reads it and gives it a fair chance.

We also had an activity on Saturday about holding to the iron rod. We set up a string throughout the yard and into the house and posted quotes from 1 Nephi chapter 8, and had some "temptations" to try and get them to let go of the rod. I was in the club here, ready to mark the hands of any club-goers:

Aaand, to top it all off, just this morning we went to Apollonia, just outside of Fier. I heard it's also called "Gylaceia". Apollonia is a site with a few Greek ruins. And that's about all I can say about it. There wasn't too much there, just a few column tops (forgot what they were called) supported by some good old Communist Cement.

Hey, at least they tried to make it look like it was still standing

There were also a few other interesting things around there, but I highly doubt the authenticity of some of the column pieces (I tapped some of them with a rock and they sounded metal and hollow).

But then, we explored the area around more, and found some cool vistas. Albania's had some wildfires lately, and that explains the burnedness of some stuff.

I kept hoping for a flaming bird to burst out of the ground.

Then, we ran into some... interesting constructions...

There be bats here. One flew at my face. I screamed. I mean, yelled very manly in order to warn my fellows of a possible rabies risk.

And finally, I found a place to make a cool jumping picture. I then made a cool jumping picture.

Hah, take that, bats! I'll just jump away from you!

That's all. I honestly and sincerely hope and pray every one of you back home is doing well with your health, family and work.